Rainier III of Monaco (1923-2005)
|infobox-links= |given_name=Rainier |middle_names=Louise Juliette |surname=Grimaldi |image=RainierIII.jpg |short_name=Rainier III of Monaco |long_name=Rainier III Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi de Polignac of Monaco |sex=M |father=Pierre de Polignac (1895-1964) |mother=Charlotte of Monaco (1898-1977) |birth_year=1923 |birth_month=5 |birth_day=31 |birth_address=Prince's Palace |birth_locality=Monaco |death_year=2005 |death_month=4 |death_day=6 |death_address=Prince's Palace |death_locality=Monaco |joined_with=Grace Kelly (1929-1982) |ifmarried-g1=true |wedding1_year=1956 |wedding1_month=4 |wedding1_day=18 |wedding2_locality=Monaco |contributors=rtol |sources= |familysearch_afn= }} * House of Grimaldi * Prince of Monaco * Duke of Valentinois * Marquis of Baux Prince Rainier III was the Prince of Monaco from 1949 to his death in 2005. Rainier ruled Monaco for almost 56 years, making him one of the longest ruling monarchs in European history. Though internationally known for his marriage to American actress Grace Kelly (1929-1982), he was also responsible for reforms to Monaco's constitution and for expanding the principality's economy from its traditional casino gambling base to its current tax haven role. Gambling accounts for only approximately three per cent of the nation's annual revenue today; when Rainier ascended the throne in 1949, it accounted for more than 95 per cent. Early life Rainier was born at Prince's Palace in Monaco, the only son of Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois, and her husband, Prince Pierre, Duke of Valentinois. Rainier was the first native-born prince since Honoré IV in 1758. Rainier's mother was the only child of Louis II, Prince of Monaco, and Marie Juliette Louvet; she was legitimized through formal adoption and subsequently named heir presumptive to the throne of Monaco. Rainier's father was a half-French, half-Mexican who adopted his wife's dynasty, Grimaldi, upon marriage and was made a Prince of Monaco by marriage by Prince Louis, his father-in-law. Rainier had one sibling, Princess Antoinette, Baroness of Massy."Obituary: Prince Rainier III of Monaco.", The Times, London, 7 April 2005, pg. 58 Rainier's early education was conducted in England, at the prestigious public schools of Summerfields in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, and later at Stowe, in Buckinghamshire. After England, Rainier attended the Institut Le Rosey in Rolle and Gstaad, Switzerland from 1939, before continuing to the University of Montpellier in France, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943, and finally to the Institut d'études politiques de Paris in Paris. In 1944, upon his 21st birthday, Rainier's mother renounced her right to the Monegasque throne and Rainier became Prince Louis's direct heir. In World War II Rainier joined the Free French Army in September 1944, and serving under General de Monsabert as a second lieutenant, and seeing action during the German counter-offensive in Alsace. He received the French Croix de Guerre with bronze star (representing a brigade level citation) and was given the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor in 1947. Following his decommission from the French Army, he was promoted by the French government as a captain in April 1949 and a colonel in December 1954. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rainier had a ten-year relationship with the French film actress Gisèle Pascal, whom he had met while a student at Montpellier University, and the couple lived at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Rainier's sister, Princess Antoinette, wishing her own son to ascend the throne, spread rumours that Pascal was infertile. The rumours combined with a snobbery over Pascal's family origins ultimately ended the relationship. Rainier became the Sovereign Prince of Monaco on the death of Louis II on 9 May 1949. Marriage and family After a year-long courtship described as containing "a good deal of rational appraisal on both sides" (The Times, 7 April 2005, page 59), Prince Rainier married Oscar-winning American actress Grace Kelly (1929–1982)1956: Prince Rainier marries Grace Kelly, BBC: On This Day. Accessed 31 May 2008. in 1956. The ceremonies in Monaco were on 18 April 1956 (civil) and 19 April 1956 (religious). Their children are: *Princess Caroline, born 23 January 1957 and now the Princess of Hanover; *Prince Albert II, born 14 March 1958, inherited the throne of Monaco; *Princess Stéphanie, born 1 February 1965. and Robert McCormick Adams at the presentation of a portrait head of Princess Grace at the National Portrait Gallery in October 1986]] In 1979, Prince Rainier made his acting debut alongside his wife Grace in a 33-minute independent film called Rearranged, produced in Monaco. According to co-star Edward Meeks, after premiering it in Monaco, Grace showed it to ABC TV executives in New York in 1982, who expressed interest if extra scenes were shot to make it an hour long. However, Grace died in a car crash caused by a stroke in 1982, making it impossible to expand the film for American release. Rainier then may have been romantically involved with his second cousin, Princess Ira von Fürstenberg, a former actress turned jewellery designer, who is also a Fiat heiress and the former sister-in-law of fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg. Princess Ira, like him, is a great-grandchild of Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton, the Scottish-German wife of Prince Albert I of Monaco, though by Lady Mary's second marriage. After Grace's death, Rainier refused to remarry. See Also * - Wikipedia * House of Rainier References Category:Princes of Monaco Category:Dukes of Valentinois Category:Counts of Polignac Category:Marquises of Baux Category:Sciences Po alumni Category:Burials at the Cathedral of Our Lady Immaculate, Monaco Category:Hereditary Princes of Monaco Category:Deaths from kidney failure Category:Disease-related deaths in Monaco Category:Marquesses of Baux Category:House of Grimaldi Category:International Olympic Committee members Category:Monegasque Roman Catholics Category:People educated at Stowe School Category:Monegasque philatelists Category:Princes of Monaco Category:Roman Catholic monarchs Category:Alumni of Institut Le Rosey Category:Monegasque princes Category:Grand Masters of the Order of Saint-Charles Category:Recipients of the Order of Saint-Charles Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles Category:Recipients of the Order of Grimaldi Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Grimaldi Category:Commanders of the Order of Cultural Merit (Monaco) Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Category:Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of George I Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of José Matías Delgado Category:Knights of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau Category:Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) Category:Recipients of the Olympic Order Category:Monegasque people of Italian descent Category:Philately of Monaco Category:Polignac family Category:Monegasque people of Mexican descent Category:Monegasque people of English descent Category:Monegasque people of Scottish descent Category:Monegasque people of German descent Category:Free French military personnel of World War II